Song premiere: Trombone Shorty's 'Fire & Brimstone'

Fire & Brimstone, an apt description of Trombone Shorty's performance style, is also the title of a new song from his upcoming album. The tune premieres at USA TODAY.

In the midtempo jazz-funk workout, the horn player sings, "Until I'm through and God takes me home, everything that comes out of my trombone is fire and brimstone." 

STREAM THE SONG HERE

The 10-track Say That to Say This, the follow-up to 2011's For True, will be released Sept. 10 on Verve Records. Raphael Saadiq produced the album, which finds Trombone Shorty facilitating a reunion of The Meters and Cyril Neville on the ballad Be My Lady, their first studio recording since 1977.
Born Troy Andrews, the trumpeter/trombonist grew up in a musical family in the storied New Orleans neighborhood of Tremé and was a bandleader by age 6. He attended the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts.

For True spent 12 weeks atop Billboard's contemporary jazz chart and garnered raves from The New Yorker and Rolling Stone.

Dubbed "New Orleans' brightest new star in a generation" by NPR and an "unstoppable force" by The New York Times.

Stream: Dumpstaphunk's New Album (c/o NY Times)

(CLICK ON ALBUM COVER)

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Dumpstaphunk

Dirty Word

Louisiana Red Hot Records | www.dumpstaphunk.com »

The third studio release by the New Orleans funk collective, led by Ivan Neville, features guest appearances by Art Neville, Trombone Shorty, Rebirth Brass Band, Ani DiFranco, Flea and others.

• Dancin' To The Truth
• Dirty Word
• I Wish You Would
• They Don't Care
• I Know You Know
• If I'm In Luck
• Water
• Blueswave
• Reality Of The Situation
• Take Time
• Raise the House

Upcoming: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Anders Osborne @ Central Park Summerstage

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

Soulive

Anders Osborne

Mon, July 22, 2013

Doors: 5:00 pm / Show: 6:00 pm

SummerStage, Central Park

$35 advance / $40 day of show

Tickets

Since the release of their Grammy®-nominated 2010 debut album, Backatown, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue have grown creatively while winning hordes of new fans performing nonstop on five continents. Their latest album, For True, offers substantive proof of their explosive growth, further refining the signature sound Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews has dubbed "Supafunkrock." "There was excitement from everywhere," says Andrews (who's now 26) of the experience on the road and how it fed into the creation of For True. "We did over 200 shows in the last year and a half, and every night we allowed the music to take us over. Musically and creatively, we wanted to shoot for some different things."
The band - Mike Ballard on bass, Pete Murano on guitar, Joey Peebles on drums, Dan Oestreicher on baritone sax and Tim McFatter on tenor sax – stirs together old-school jazz, funk and soul, laced with hard-rock power chords and hip-hop beats, and they've added some tangy new ingredients on For True as they keep pushing the envelope, exploring new musical territory. "We never sat down and really thought about concepts and what we wanted our music to sound like," Andrews explains. "It's just that, over the years, we allowed each one of the band members to bring their influences and taste in music into our music. Anything we hear or are influenced by, it naturally comes out in what we're trying to do. It's just our sound, and it happened naturally."
Andrews wrote or co-wrote all 14 tracks on the new album, including collaborating with the legendary Lamont Dozier on "Encore," while this time playing as much trumpet as trombone, as well as organ, drums, piano, keys, synth bass and percussion. Indeed, he played every part on the swaying, Latin-tinged "Unc." He's also come into his own as a singer, honoring the hallowed legacy of the great soul men of the 1960s and '70s. Like its predecessor, the new album turns on a rare combination of virtuosity and high-energy, party-down intensity.
Among the special guests are longtime NOLA cohorts like Ivan and Cyril Neville (who bring their trademark sound to "Nervis"); Galactic's Ben Ellman, reprising his producer's role on Backatown (percussion on opener "Buckjump," harmonica on "Big 12") and Stanton Moore (drumming on "Lagniappe Part 1" and "Part 2"); bounce rapper 5th Ward Weebie and the Rebirth Brass Band (who team up on "Buckjump") and Troy's longtime friend Charles Smith (who adds percussion to the same track).
"On the last record, we just basically did it with my band," Andrews points out, "but we've got a lot of New Orleans people on this new record - the music just called for it. The Rebirth Brass Band, these are all people that helped me grow in my career and teach me different things. And 5th Ward Weebie, who's one of the lead voices in the bounce community, we're like brothers. I'm excited to have those people on there, because they bring a taste of where I come from and where I'm going."
The album also bears the fruit of more recent relationships. Lenny Kravitz (who plays bass on "Roses"), has the longest-standing bond with Andrews, discovering the then-teenage prodigy in 2005 and taking him on tour with his band. Calling Andrews "a genius player," Kravitz says, "He's got nothing but personality, he plays his ass off and he's a beautiful human being." Kid Rock (whose vocal is featured on "Mrs. Orleans") came out to see Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue at an outdoor show in NOLA, and a month later Troy joined the star onstage at Jazz Fest.
Andrews played with Warren Haynes (whose eruptive solo further heats up "Encore") at his annual benefit and again at the guitarist's Mahalia Jackson Theatre all-star event during the 2011 Jazz Fest. Ledisi (who sings on "Then There Was You"), met Troy at the 2010 Grammys, later came out to see him in New Orleans and was later featured in a segment for the landmark "Red Hot + New Orleans" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, for which Andrews served as musical director.
His relationship with Jeff Beck (check out his blistering solo on "Do to Me") has blossomed since the guitar legend came to Troy's late-night post-Jazz Fest show at Tipitina's in 2010. "I was completely blown away," Beck said of his Tip's epiphany in Mojo magazine's "The Best Thing I've Heard All Year" special feature in January. "The crowd went wild. Troy and his band have just supported me on some U.K. dates. A sensational group of musicians. Trombone Shorty is one to watch." That led Beck to ask Andrews to play on Jeff Beck's "Rock 'N' Roll Party Honoring Les Paul," and Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue joined Beck for his U.K. tour last fall.
"I'm fans of all those people," says Andrews. "I met them over the last year or two of touring, and I've been wanting to work with all of those guys and Ledisi. It's like this musical community. It's not like I reached out to them because I needed some big names on the record. I'm really interested in their music and their talents. So for me it's a dream come true to work with some of my favorite artists. Whatever they need me to do, I'll be there." Since Backatown's release, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue have toured nonstop in North America, the U.K., Brazil, Japan, Europe and Australia. In December of 2010, Andrews drew accolades as musical director of "Red Hot + New Orleans" at BAM. The sensational two-night run inspired The New York Times senior music critic Jon Pareles to assert, "Trombone Shorty had clearly set out to present New Orleans as a city whose glory days aren't over... it was a signal that the city's music would push ahead."
Yes, Andrews has made quite an impression on the critics. "Trombone Shorty is so ready for his close-up," The New York Times reviewer Nate Chinen wrote, describing the young virtuoso as "a native prodigy destined for breakout success." The San Francisco Chronicle's Joel Selvin hailed him as "New Orleans' brightest new star in a generation." Rolling Stone's Will Hermes raved that "Backatown is both deeply rooted and culturally omnivorous." And the Washington Post's Mike Joyce described one live performance as "a near-deafening, funk-charged blast of percussion, brass, reeds and guitar distortion that might have knocked the crowd sideways had there been any room to move."
TSOA's performances at and during the New Orleans Jazz Fest are legendary. In one day, Troy sat in for a set of free jazz honoring a recently passed mentor. From there he sat in with Kid Rock. Then to the Gospel Tent for a featured slot with cousin Glenn David Andrews before literally running back to the main stage to close the Festival as a special guest of the Neville Brothers. His respect across a broad spectrum and his musical versatility is further evidenced by his performance resumé, playing at events as diverse as Bonnaroo, the Playboy Jazz Festival at Hollywood Bowl, the Montreal, Montreux and Monterey jazz fests, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco, Austin City Limits, Fuji Rock in Japan, Philadelphia Folk Fest, Jam Cruise, assorted Blues Festivals and even a Reggae Festival in Germany. The band spent last summer crisscrossing Europe to perform at festivals from Spain to Slovakia. Andrews has also done a ton of TV, appearing on The Late Show With David Letterman, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Good Morning America, Tavis Smiley, NFL Kickoff (joining Dave Matthews Band) and a recurring role on the hit HBO series Tremé, on which he played himself in a recurring role. Along with appearing on Beck's Les Paul tribute, he's been a featured guest musician on the latest releases from Eric Clapton, Zac Brown Band, Rod Stewart, Kravitz, and Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars.
Andrews hails from the Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans' 6th Ward, getting his nickname at four years old when he was observed by his older brother James marching in a street parade wielding a trombone twice as long as the kid was high. Troy started early, learning how to play drums and what he remembers as "the world's smallest trumpet" at the age of three. By the time he reached six, this prodigy was playing trumpet and trombone in a jazz band led by his older brother James, himself a trumpet player of local renown who has been called "Satchmo of the Ghetto."
Not long afterward, Troy formed his own band with some other musically inclined kids from Tremé, and they became regulars at Jackson Square, with dreams of following in the footsteps of his brother James and Rebirth Brass Band, learning and carrying on the New Orleans tradition. While not only carrying on that tradition and expanding its boundaries, Troy has lent a generous helping hand to the next generation as well, having given longstanding support to the city's renowned Roots of Music program. Troy was also recently honored by being named the youngest member of the NOCCA Foundation board - the foundation behind New Orleans' Center for the Creative Arts where Troy and several of his band members studied and began collaborating. He's also gearing up his own new foundation aimed at making sure that talented younger players with limited resources can get quality instruments to play. Watch for much more news on that front, as well as a new CD, currently planned for an April 2013 release.

Soulive

• Links

Soulive has never made any bones about what they do best; it’s right there in their name. Since forming in 1999, the trio of guitarist Eric Krasno, drummer Alan Evans and keyboardist Neal Evans has carried the torch for the soul-jazz organ trio—that venerable, funky institution pioneered by the likes of Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff and Groove Holmes in the late ’60s. Rest assured, when the Evans brothers first brought Kraz by their Woodstock studio, there was plenty of old vinyl spread out on the floor.
In their 13 years together, Soulive has followed the muse in the direction of hip-hop, R&B, blues and rock, collaborating with the likes of Chaka Khan, Dave Matthews, Talib Kweli, John Scofield, Derek Trucks, Maceo Parker, Susan Tedeschi, Robert Randolph, Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett, Fred Wesley, The Roots, Ivan Neville and so many others, even going so far as to record a full album of covers by The Beatles (Rubber Soulive). But, no matter how they push the limits of the organ trio, they always come back to their bread and butter: blistering solos and grooves that don’t quit.
Their latest, a four-track EP entitled, SPARK, deserves a place on your record shelf right between Booker T. and a bottle of some damn good single-malt. Recorded over a day and a half with saxophonist/flautist Karl Denson (The Greyboy Allstars, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe), the record captures the smoky vibe of early-’70s-era CTI Records releases by the likes of Freddie Hubbard, Grover Washington Jr. and George Benson. It’s the stuff Denson grew up on. “I’m older than the Soulive guys,” he says. “When I heard those records being sampled back in the late 80s, early 90s, popping up in clubs when I was over in Europe touring with Lenny Kravitz, that’s what really prepared me for this whole thing we’ve been doing for the last 20 years. It was a natural progression for me to finally do something in the CTI vein.”
Each tune was ultimately just a vehicle for the musicians’ playing, so, sticking to this formula, the quartet used very few overdubs. “Back in that era,” Krasno explains, “you bought a piece of vinyl and it had two tracks on either side. The grooves were kind of dark but really open and each musician got a chance to breathe.” Denson continues: “SPARK is really about the playing, less about the tunes. It’s the four of us collectively getting back to more of a jazzier thing than we’d done in recent memory.”
The first side opens with Yusef Lateef’s sultry “Nubian Lady,” featuring Denson on flute. It was a mutual love for Lateef that brought the quartet together to begin with—Kraz having studied with the legend and Denson having idolized his records. The laid-back tempo lets the group simmer on the theme until Kraz decides to slice the whole thing open with some Middle Eastern fretwork, leaving Karl to pick up the pieces. Denson describes the sound as “Something a little more chilled out but funky at the same time.” “Povo” is a perfect evocation of the era, first recorded by Freddie Hubbard on CTI in 1972, featuring some of Kraz’s most sinewy lines and a caterwauling climax on tenor from Denson. When the two lay out, the Evans brothers remind the listener why an organ and a drum kit have always been plenty good for funky jazz. “We’ve always loved James Brown and music that’s going to make you groove,” says Krasno. “But there’s so much more vocabulary from jazz that you can put in it.” Art Farmer would have agreed. The band’s rendition of his 1972 tune “Soulsides” slips plenty of ideas into the deep pocket, putting Neal Evans out front on piano.
“Spark,” the only original song on the record, was written in homage to legendary soul-jazz guitarist Melvin Sparks, who passed away only days before Soulive entered the studio. Known for his fleet fingers and deft sense of the blues, Sparks made his name backing organists like McDuff and Dr. Lonnie Smith. Krasno grew up listening to Sparks play at a regular gig in New Canaan, CT, and credits the guitarist with inspiring many of his own sensibilities. When Denson asked Sparks to open for the Greyboy Allstars’ first East Coast tour in 1994, it revived his career. “We totally got along and had a great time over the years,” says Denson. Sparks joined Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe to record Dance Lesson No. 2 in 2001 and “just annihilated it. He was a great cat and a total musical mentor.” So, it was with sadness that the four musicians collectively penned the tune and with reverence that they perform the slinky strut, while dedicating the EP to his memory. Denson eulogizes on both flute and tenor while Krasno’s tone impeccably channels the musician he calls, “one of the great guitarists of our time and the coolest dude I knew.”

Anders Osborne

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Recorded at the famed Dockside Studio in Maurice, Louisiana, BLACK EYE GALAXY was produced by Anders along with engineer Warren Riker and Galactic’s Stanton Moore. Sounds on the album range from heavy electric mayhem to joyous acoustic melodicism, lyrics move from the darkest depths to the healing power of love. Black Eye Galaxy is a personal record for Osborne, but one with universal themes.
The album is a journey of sorts, following the main character (based on Anders’ own life experiences) from the uncontrolled, primal chaos of "Send Me A Friend" to the inner peace of "Higher Ground." The disjointed and brutally honest "Mind Of A Junkie" leads into the warm and hopeful "Lean On Me/Believe In You." The gentle "When Will I See You Again?" finds Anders rebuilding broken relations, while the feral and confrontational "Black Tar" (co-written with Little Feat’s Paul Barrere) says farewell to a dark past. The final four songs — "Tracking My Roots," "Louisiana Gold," "Dancing In The Wind," and "Higher Ground" — bring an almost ecstatic tranquility after the intense stress and turbulence of the beginning of the album. From ultra-heavy and challenging to sweetly soul-soothing and melodic, Osborne’s guitar work, like his vocals, is simply mesmerizing. Black Eye Galaxy is a harrowing but ultimately uplifting cycle of richly detailed songs that are musically and lyrically thought-provoking, exhilarating and completely engaging.
In the studio and in concert, Anders channels the music throughout his entire body, becoming a whirling dervish of pure energy. BLURT says, “This is modern music at its transcendent best.” PASTE adds, “He is wildly diverse, thoughtful and raw.” With BLACK EYE GALAXY, Osborne’s star has exploded into the universe, fully formed and spinning freely in its own unique direction.

Upcoming: Fat Tuesday -w- Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave. @ Marquee

Upcoming: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue @ Terminal 5 (Saturday)

This Friday: Trombone Shorty @ Celebrate Brooklyn

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

 

CELEBRATE BROOKLYN! @ Prospect Park Bandshell

June 29, 2012

7:30 PM

Doors open at 6:30pm.

With THE BROOKLYN STEPPERS / DAYNA KURTZ

Troy “TROMBONE SHORTY” Andrews, "New Orleans' brightest new star in a generation," (SF Chronicle) and his untouchable band whip up "a near-deafening, funk-charged blast of percussion, brass, reeds and guitar distortion” (Washington Post) that unites the Crescent City’s past and future. Andrews hails from the Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans’ 6th Ward, and he got his nickname at four years old when his older brother James saw him marching in a street parade wielding a trombone twice as long as the kid was high. Andrews started early, learning how to play drums and what he remembers as “the world’s smallest trumpet” at the age of three. By the time he reached six, this prodigy was playing trumpet and trombone in a jazz band led by his older brother James, himself a trumpet player of local renown. His subsequent rise through the ranks of New Orleans players is now the tuff of legend, and his touring a recording history with Orleans Avenue is already distinguished. Since the release of their Grammy-nominated 2010 debut Backatown, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue have performed on five continents. Last year’s For True, (Verve Forecast) which features a host of special guests, offers substantive proof of their growth, further refining the signature sound Andrews has dubbed Supafunkrock.

The soulful local favorite DAYNA KURTZ, who released two albums simultaneously this spring, gets things started, and THE BROOKLYN STEPPERS MARCHING BAND swings by for an explosive drum line interlude.

Daytrotter Session: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

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Download Free Session

Stream Session HERE

Whatever Spooks, Rattles Or Romps

Words by Sean Moeller, Illustration by Johnnie Cluney, Recording engineered by Jon Ashley

The New Orleans that I'd like to go to, for my first visit, is the one that Trombone Shorty gives us a guided tour of with everything that he and his group, the Orleans Avenue, give us with every number and every interpretation they play. We've heard that there's some great food down there, but where isn't there something special to sample when considering local cuisine? We've heard that it's beautiful and that things are shaping back up down with rebuilding and recovery efforts, but lots of places are beautiful. Beauty's kind of a dime a dozen. The eyes can always be full, anywhere you go. What we sense the most in Trombone Shorty, the stage name of 25-year-old Troy Andrews, is the voodoo that we've been told is synonymous with that city down on the Bayou. It's that twinkling black magic or something that feels forbidden or unattainable that comes through his instrument. It feels like new language, a purple haze, something that's not quite of this world. There's a haunting that Andrews puts to the notes that he blows out. They have within them the funkiness and soul that provide a commonly accepted stepping off point for discussion, but he takes them into darker corners of the swamp, where they pick up their scruff and scuffings. They come out on the other side of his head and his mouth fully diabolical, completely consequential. They have life that's been given to them by some unknown power and the songs carry with them a certain pluck that would have made mothers and fathers calling it the devil's music had Shorty been making it back when Elvis was deemed Satanic for the swivel of his hips and the playing of such unwholesome R&B-infused rock and roll. Trombone Shorty would have stood at the top of the list of banned musical substances should he have been around back in the 1950s. These days, he's still able to steam up the windows and he brings the humidity of something frisky happening between the sheets to much of his music, allowing it to be heard in the way that anyone wants to hear it. He's a true master, already, at his tender age, the product of and interpreter of past greatness. He sounds intent upon giving new life to the music that he grew up with, adding to it whatever gets into his cage at night, whatever spooks, whatever rattles, whatever gives him a romp.

Tomorrow: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue @ The Box

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

Wed, September 14, 2011

Doors: 6:00 pm / Show: 7:00 pm

The Box

New York, NY

$35 General Admission

Rare indeed is the artist with the virtuosity to draw the unqualified respect of some of the most iconic legends in jazz and the ability to deliver a high-energy funk rock show capable of mesmerizing international rock stars. Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews is one such artist - and there is no one else like him.

Trombone Shorty is equally adept on trombone and trumpet and is a man to be reckoned with on both. A product of New Orleans' culturally rich Treme neighborhood, Trombone Shorty was a bandleader by the age of six.

While navigating New Orleans with his band in tow, he was also absorbing lessons from his older brother James, a dynamic musical performer known as "Satchmo of the Ghetto." By the time Trombone Shorty was twelve, he had a Ph.D. in the ways of the streets, which you can still hear in his music.

During a visit to a small New Orleans club, Bono and the Edge saw the 12-year-old trombone player. "We walked in and the place was jumping. There was this little funk band, but they were all playing brass instruments, which is something I'd never heard of or seen before," The Edge recalled. "We were just mesmerized by him. I ended up with Bono, after a few tequilas, dancing with a bunch of girls on the top of the bar. It was one of those sort of nights."

Now, at 23, Trombone Shorty has grown into a performer who commands the stage while emanating an elegance and class gleaned from his successful studies at the prestigious New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. As a graduate, he joined the ranks of alums like Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr., and Nicholas Payton. Another alum, Wynton Marsalis, said of him, "Troy possesses the rarest combination of talent, technical capability and down home soul. I'm his biggest fan."

Shorty has attracted many such legends to his high-profile fanbase, and the diverse and notable names he has performed and soloed with include Norah Jones at Jazzfest 2007, Diana Krall at Madison Square Garden in 2005, and chart-topping rapper Juvenile at VoodooFest 2008.

In 2009, New Orleans' premier music magazine, Offbeat, awarded Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue Best R&B/Funk Band for the second year in a row. Trombone Shorty himself picked up an award for Best Trumpet and he has been named Performer of The Year twice. His success - and his promise - has been recognized by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on one of the Fest's two annual official posters. He is the youngest artist to be featured on the poster by 18 years - the next youngest was Wynton Marsalis, who was featured at age 41.
The four years leading up to being tapped for the Jazzfest poster saw Trombone Shorty's profile grow virtually month-by-month. In 2005, he was tapped by Lenny Kravitz to be a featured member of his horn section for the 63-date Electric Church world tour that in North America supported Aerosmith's Rockin' the Joint tour.
In London in 2006, Trombone Shorty worked with producer Bob Ezrin and U2 at Abbey Road Studios. This association led to Trombone Shorty performing with U2 and Green Day during the New Orleans Superdome's post-Katrina re-opening spectacular during Monday Night Football. The show aired live on ESPN and was also broadcast internationally by Westwood One.

Also in 2006, Trombone Shorty made his acting debut on the NBC television series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Leading a group of New Orleans musicians, his haunting trumpet performance of the holiday classic "O Holy Night" drew such an enthusiastic response from viewers that NBC released the single for free download on the NBC.com home page.

Trombone Shorty has been profiled by Good Morning America and USA Today and was featured on "Whole Lotta Loving," a collaboration with Lenny Kravitz for the 2007 album Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino. When the 2008 NBA All-Star game was played in New Orleans, he was tapped to play on court during player introductions, along with Harry Connick Jr., Kermit Ruffins, and Branford Marsalis.

THE FUTURE IS SUPAFUNKROCK

The here and now finds Trombone Shorty a fully developed performer bursting into the international consciousness. It's always a challenge to find an appropriate label for artists who make something uniquely their own from a variety of influences. In the case of Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, the band created its own tagline for its high-octane music: SupaFunkRock. The group's performances have been known to run for hours at an energy level that few others could sustain for a much shorter performance.

The seeds for Orleans Avenue were sown at New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, and the group has since evolved into a six-piece touring phenomenon. With Mike Ballard on bass, Pete Murano on guitar, Joey Peebles on drums, Dwayne Williams on percussion and Dan Oestreicher on baritone sax, their performances transcend the boundaries of generation and classification. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue have been drawing ever-growing crowds based largely on word of mouth excitement about their knockout shows, night after night. Making the most of limited time off, they are currently recording new songs that capture the band's rare combination of virtuosity and high-energy party intensity - the next accomplishment to watch for in the career of this unparalleled young artist.

Newport Jazz 2011: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Live In Concert

Listen to the set HERE.

In New Orleans, jazz is a building block, a musical foundation. Troy Andrews, aka Trombone Shorty, fully embraces the future-funk and grimy rock backbeats which bring crowds to their feet. But at his core, he's also a phenomenal jazz trombonist and singer from the Tremé neighborhood. Stardom awaits with the upcoming release of For True; here, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue preview their headlining Newport Jazz Festival set with this more intimate Quad Stage show.

Personnel: Trombone Shorty, trombone/trumpet/voice; Tim McFatter, tenor saxophone; Dan Oestreicher, baritone saxophone; Peter Murano, guitar; Michael Ballard, bass; Robert Peebles, drums; Dwayne Williams, percussion.

NY Times: The Night New Orleans Came to Brooklyn

By JON PARELES

Starting with a parade (down an opera-house aisle) and ending nearly three hours later with a jam session, Red Hot + New Orleans brought a generous Crescent City spirit to the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Friday night to kick off a two-night stand.

Trombone Shorty, who also plays trumpet, was curator of the show, the latest of the Red Hot Organization’s AIDS benefit concerts, which donated some proceeds to the New Orleans NO/AIDS Task Force. Born Troy Andrews in New Orleans, Trombone Shorty is ubiquitous in his hometown as a bandleader and a sideman; his 2010 album, “Backatown” (Verve Forecast), is nominated for a Grammy Award.

He assembled his city’s longtime stars, including Irma Thomas and Dr. John, along with local stalwarts like the trumpeter Kermit Ruffins; the keyboardist Ivan Neville; the hip-hop producer Mannie Fresh; the soul singer Marc Broussard; and members of two pre-eminent brass bands, Rebirth and the Dirty Dozen. Trombone Shorty sat in with just about everyone, playing R&B, funk, jazz and the New Orleans hip-hop variant called bounce. He also led his own band (and the concert’s house band), Orleans Avenue, which put the heft and dynamics of rock behind his own riffing, growling trombone.

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, the musical culture of New Orleans has persevered, still cherishing its long memory, its amiably shared local lore, its rhythmic genius and songs that are tough-minded even as they grin. Perhaps inevitably, the city’s culture is growing less insular. Many of the concert’s performers have had televised moments lately — or, like Trombone Shorty and Mr. Ruffins, repeated exposure — on the HBO series “Treme.” Mr. Ruffins sang the “Treme” theme during the concert’s final jam on “When the Saints Go Marching In,” which also segued into a Mardi Gras Indians song, “Let’s Go Get ’Em.”

New Orleans music also maintains its jazz-funeral determination to celebrate rather than mourn. Partners-N-Crime, a rap duo that had local bounce hits in the 1990s, enlisted Trombone Shorty and Rebirth members for a second-line parade sound in “Foot Work”; it included the lines “Katrina’s gone, can’t cry no more/ All the money’s gone, but the levees ain’t broke no more.”

Giant Mardi Gras beads hung over the stage and dangled from the box seats; a video backdrop showed images of the city and its people. That didn’t turn the opera house into a carnival, but the music got people up and dancing.

Dr. John and Ms. Thomas each did minisets of hits. Ms. Thomas seesawed between sultriness and ache in “It’s Raining” and “Ruler of My Heart.” Dr. John cackled through “Such a Night” with a splashy barrelhouse piano coda, turned to funk with “Right Place, Wrong Time” and led a spooky “Walk on Gilded Splinters,” with Mr. Neville on Hammond organ playing atmospheric chords like smoke signals.

True to a New Orleans heritage, two-fisted piano reappeared through the show. Mr. Neville riffled through the Mardi Gras mambo of Professor Longhair’s “Big Chief,” and an unannounced guest, Jonathan Batiste, splayed chords across the keyboard in “Saints.” In his own segment, Mr. Neville seized a family legacy, playing the jigsaw New Orleans funk of his uncle Art Neville’s band, the Meters. Mr. Ruffins, who sang when he wasn’t playing sweet and tart trumpet, looked toward Louis Armstrong, reviving a southern African song from the Armstrong repertory, “Skokiaan,” and sharing “What a Wonderful World” with the R&B singer Ledisi, whose scat-singing fluttered around his rasp.

The concert had some ups and downs; Mannie Fresh is an important figure in New Orleans hip-hop as a producer (notably of the Hot Boys, who included Lil Wayne and Juvenile), not a rapper. But Trombone Shorty had clearly set out to present New Orleans as a city whose glory days aren’t over. One of his band’s tunes was called “Hurricane Season,” and it was no lament. With high-note-trumpet lines and a “Hey!” shout-along, it was a signal that the city’s music would push ahead.

Additional pics from Nola.com:

Wall Street Journal: Trombone Shorty Assembles a Sound Track [in NYC] for His Hometown

Play Hard for the Big Easy

By JIM FUSILLI

Part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 2010 Next Wave Festival, the Red Hot + New Orleans program promises a multigenerational look at the music of the Crescent City. Trombone Shorty, as Troy Andrews is known, is the two-night event's curator and musical director, and he says New Yorkers may be surprised at what the all-star lineup intends to deliver.

Philip Montgomery

"You have the Great American Songbook and then you have the Great New Orleans Songbook," Mr. Andrews said. "A lot of people we're featuring, they had national hits—but they had local hits, too. And we all know that material."

BAM's Howard Gilman Opera House will host shows on Friday and Saturday night. The lineup includes Dr. John, Irma Thomas, Kermit Ruffins, Ivan Neville—could there be a celebration of the city's music without a Neville on stage?—Marc Broussard, Ledisi, members of the Dirty Dozen and Rebirth brass bands, and the rap duo Partners-N-Crime. It's the latest event in BAM's multiartist series conducted in collaboration with Red Hot, a nonprofit production company that raises funds and awareness to fight AIDS and HIV, and will help benefit the New Orleans-based NO/AIDS Task Force.

Meanwhile, nearby at the BAMcafé, the New Orleans theme will continue after the main shows: Brother Joscephus and the Love Revival Revolution Orchestra—they'll be joined by local DJs the Dustbin Brothers—on Friday; and the boisterous Funky Nation with Big Sam Williams on Saturday.

"I played with mostly all of them," Mr. Andrews said of the acts on the main-stage bill. "Numerous times, in fact." The exception, he added, was Ledisi, the R&B belter. They've never worked together, he said, "but we're good friends."

Mr. Andrews, 24 years old, is an ideal choice to bring together several generations of New Orleans musicians. His grandfather, Jessie Hill, played with Professor Longhair and Dr. John, and sang the Allen Toussaint-produced R&B hit "Ooh-Poo-Pah-Doo." It's said Mr. Andrews ran his first band when he was 6 years old; he started playing with the trombone before that: You can find pictures online of him struggling with an instrument twice his size, which may explain his nickname. He's been recording since age 16; his latest album, "Backatown" (Verve), is a jazz-funk mix rooted deeply in his hometown. He and his brother James, a noted trumpeter who's also on the BAM bill, performed "Ooh-Poo-Pah-Doo" during an episode of "Treme," the HBO series set in the neighborhood where the Andrews brothers were born.

Mr. Andrews said BAM approached him more than a year ago about curating an event. "We just had New Orleans and me," he explained. In time, the concept was refined. "We'll play the legendary tunes of New Orleans. You'll get a bunch of different music coming at you." He called the program "a musical gumbo."

Mr. Ruffins, the trumpeter and co-founder of the Rebirth Brass Band—and also a featured actor on "Treme"—said each of the leaders submitted five songs for consideration. He'll be paying tribute to Louis Armstrong with a cover of "What a Wonderful World" and performing "More Today Than Yesterday," a track on his new disc "Happy Talk" (Basin Street). But there's room for spontaneity, too.

"I just look at the audience to see whether they're sit-down or get-funky," Mr. Ruffins said. "I play around until I see what they like."

Like Mr. Andrews, Mr. Ruffins has played with just about everybody on the bill, too—except, surprisingly, Dr. John, a fixture of the city's music scene since the 1950s. "I've been in his company many times, but we never did play together," Mr. Ruffins said. "That will be really special for me."

Upcoming: Red Hot & New Orleans @ BAM feat. Trombone Shorty

Red Hot + New Orleans

Part of the 2010 Next Wave Festival

Dec 3 & 4 at 8pm

World Premiere

Produced by BAM & Paul Heck / Red Hot Organization

Musical director Trombone Shorty

Featuring:
Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue
Dr. John
Irma Thomas
Kermit Ruffins
Ledisi
Marc Broussard
Ivan Neville
Partners-N-Crime
Mannie Fresh
Roger Lewis (Dirty Dozen Brass Band)
Phil and Keith Frazier (Rebirth Brass Band)
Video Design - Yuki Nakajima
Stage Design - Alex Delaunay

The Red Hot series returns to the Next Wave Festival (Red Hot + Riot, 2006; Red Hot + Rio 2, 2008) with Red Hot + New Orleans, saluting the music of the Crescent City.


From its deep traditions of jazz, blues, funk, and “second line” sounds to the more raucous “bounce” music scene, an exceptional group of emerging artists and established legends assembles to celebrate the resurgent and resilient sound of New Orleans, a city whose spirit has influenced countless artists and styles. Join music director Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews (one of the many NO musicians featured in the new HBO series Treme), as he brings a little piece of The Big Easy to Brooklyn.


This program is produced by BAM in association with The Red Hot Organization in recognition of World AIDS Day (Dec 1). Part of the proceeds will benefit New Orleans’ NO/AIDS Task Force.

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
120min, no intermission
Tickets: $25, 45, 55, 65

Vote for the next Threadhead Records project

Fan-funded New Orleans-based Threadhead Records is hosting a poll to help determine their next project. You do not have to register to vote. You just click on the link and can vote once per IP address per day through 10/18.


My favorites include: Midnite Disturbers (the all-star brass band, which has included Stanton Moore, Kevin O'Day, Skerik, Ben Ellman, Big Sam, Mark Mullins, Shamarr Allen, Troy Andrews, Kirk Joseph, Matt Perrine)

Tin Men feat. Alex McMurray, Matt Perrine (again) & Washboard Chaz

Injun Orchestra


Feel free to vote for your favorite.

Vote Here! Poll Closes at 12am est 10/18

One vote per IP address, per day. At the end of the week, the top 10 suggestions will be put up for a final vote. Final poll will be open for another week and at the end of that time, THR will choose a project from the top 3 most popular suggestions to pursue. Note: There is no guarantee that any project suggested will materialize into a THR project but THR will seriously investigate the possibility.

Who should we pursue for our next project?
	AfricanZydeco Revue
	RamaFest: Twangorama and Bonerama collaboration
	David Torkanowsky
	Kora Konnection
	Anders Osborne (?), Johnny Sansone and John Fohl
	VOW
	Germaine Bazzle
	groovesect and the soul project (soulsect)
	Threadhead Records All-Stars
	A childrens CD recording the music clinic kids
	All That
	Midnite Disturbers
	Paul Sanchez and the Rolling Road Show
	Threadhead Records artists do the History of New Orleans music
	Wendell Brunious
	Christmas funk compilation
	Junko Pardners
	The Injun Orchestra
	Creole String Beans
	Brint Anderson
	Helen Gillet
	Joe Krown trio
	Bob Andrews
	(Big Fine) Ellen Smith
	John Gros
	Sasha Masakowski
	Tin Men
	Johnny Sansone
	Beatin Path

http://www.threadheadrecords.com

In Pictures/Video: NFL Kickoff in New Orleans

Time Magazine: Trombone Shorty Feature

Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews is featured in a profile on Time.com. The piece includes an interview with Troy about his background and clips from his show supporting Michael Franti & Spearhead in New York City. Troy accommodates the Time reporter’s request for a trombone lesson in “New Orleans Brass playing” to close out the piece.

In Pictures: Trombone Shorty / Jon Cleary @ South Street Seaport

By Dino Perrucci Photography

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave. - The Beach @ South Street Seaport, NYC 8/26/10



Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave. - The Beach @ South Street Seaport, NYC 8/26/10


Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave. - The Beach @ South Street Seaport, NYC 8/26/10


Jon Cleary - The Beach @ South Street Seaport, NYC 8/26/10


James Singleton - The Beach @ South Street Seaport, NYC 8/26/10


Doug Belote - The Beach @ South Street Seaport, NYC 8/26/10


Danny Sadownik - The Beach @ South Street Seaport, NYC 8/26/10

Watch: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue on Letterman

Trombone Shorty On Mountain Stage

Brass man Trombone Shorty and his band, Orleans Avenue, hail from the Treme district of New Orleans, popularized recently by the HBO series of the same name. Here, they perform "Where Y'At" from their April release, Backatown, plus three tunes that can be heard on a live digital EP.

With Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews on trombone, trumpet and lead vocals, Orleans Avenue is composed of Mike Ballard on bass, Joey Peebles on drums, Dwayne Williams on congas, Pete Murano on guitar, Dan Oestreicher on baritone sax and Robby Marshall on tenor sax.

This new-school sound, which Andrews has dubbed "supafunkrock," leans heavily on horn riffs, deft drums and electric guitar. Lenny Kravitz, Marc Broussard and Allen Toussaint all have cameos on Backatown, which was produced by Galactic's Ben Ellman.

NPR: Trombone Shorty - 'Backatown' New Orleans Funk

Stream Trombone Shorty's "Backatown"

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Shorty

Trombone Shorty's major label debut, Backatown (Verve Forecast/Universal), hits today. Produced by Ben Ellman (of Galactic) and featuring guest performances from Marc Broussard, Lenny Kravitz and Allen Toussaint, the album is a tour de force from New Orleans' 24 year-old trombonist/trumpeter/vocalist.

Right now the full album is online and streaming free HERE.

His live shows have been the stuff of legend and last night he was named Entertainer of the Year and Best Male Performer at Gambit Magazine's Big Easy Awards in New Orleans. Backatown finally captures the magic in the studio, leading Entertainment Weekly to write, "Go get Trombone Shorty's new album, Backatown, now." USA Today agreed, writing "For years, [Trombone Shorty's] savvy, seismic mesh of jazz, rock, R-n-B and hip-hop electrified audiences. He and his dauntless band Orleans Avenue finally captured it in the studio after enlisting Ben Ellman of jazz/funk band Galactic."

Troy has been busy outside of the studio as well and appeared in this week's episode of the HBO series Treme, playing himself in the first appearance of what will be a recurring role.

Shorty will be touring non-stop this summer in support of the record, from a furious 10-show Jazz Fest schedule that concludes with a Sunday set on the final day of the Festival, to performances at Bonnaroo, the Playboy Jazz Festival, High Sierra, Mountain Jam, Fuji Rock and others - with more big shows and national TV appearances being announced soon. Check below for dates.